Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-04-30
Scientific.

impaired to the tiles. rendering them
capable Of producing pleasing effects
IN ornamentation.
To fix a metallic to n soft substance,
such as tin to cloth, requires a tough
substance: not a varnish MOI yet a glue.
but lndia-rubber cement. as used by
bicycle makers for fixing tires. Warm
the metal, and rub over with the CO.
ment; and while yet hot apply the
cloth, and press down with a hot fat
iron.
The wealth of Alabama's coal mines
Is to be estimated from the statement
that the available coal Of Alabama, col
lected in II lump, would be forty-ive
miles long by twenty-five miles wide
II ten feet thick. A breaking off Of
5000 tons daily from the lump would
leave a large part Of it untouched at
the expiration Of 5000 years.
LISA mooted question whether the
sunlight falling upon an ordinary wood
''N - NihN IlONNoS Vi IotlBlSbltft
This is a popular notion, and one writer
says it looks as if the fire burns more
feebly when the sun shines full upon it.
1t is now alleged by scientific men that
there may be some influence produced
by the action of the sun.
A brick, being about as porous rs a
lump OF sugar aud having six sides,
needs careful filing for water-tight
work In ceSSpooiS, etc, and thin grout
or p~orridge Of cement is commonly
used. Heating the brick and soaking
beforehand in thick coal tar has been
recommended. A mar may lay com
mon wall all his life without learning
how to make brick water tight.
1t may seem strange to the non-pro-
fessional that, in spite Of persistent
n skillfu' attempts to solve the prob
lem, chemists are obliged to admit ignor-
ance of the exact composition Of so
common a substance rs the white of an
egg; yet, until they acquire an accurate
knowledge Of the constitution Of albu-
minous substances. the process of ami
NAL economy cannot be explained.
AS is generally known, compound
telegraph wires consist of copper depos-
tied upon iron and steel. A wire, how
ever, is now being brought out in Eng
land in which the relation Of the two
metals is reversed. the steel surrounding
the copper. The wire is said to be drawn
from compound metal consisting of
a hollow ingot Of steel filed with cop
per.
At Krupp's a railroad truck has just
been built With sixteen axles, 1t was
made for the special purpose OF trans
porting by rail q cannon which is fifty
feet long, and weighs nearly 1876 tons.
from Essen 10 Spezzia, in Italy, by way
Of the st. Gothard Tunnel. The truck
is seventy-six feet long and the axles
are divided into groups Of four, which
easily adapt themselves to the curves
in the road.
Herr Either says the following me-
thod for testing the efficiency of belts
Is successful: a small strip is cut off
and placed in a jar lilled with common
vinegar. If the belt was well tanned
and good quality, it may remain In the
vinegar many months without being
injurionsly affected, it growing only a
little darker in color. If, on the CON
trary, the belt was of III! inferior make,
its tibres begin soon TO swell, and after
a short time are transformed into a
gelatinous mass.
Brass cannot be tempered in the
m in which steel is tempered.
Hence the only method TO make a brass
spring is to compress the metal either
10y rolls or hard hammering. If the
springs are to be fiat. hammer them out
to shape from soft wire or sheet brass
somewhat thicker than the finished
spring Is to be. If the brass shows a
tendency to crack in hammering, it
must be %annealed, which must be done
pNttti'S " iiSHo iSu dllu plVuRllS
INTO water. In hammering use a light
hammer, but do not spare the blows.
The latest victory in the %long-drawn
match between the gun and the armor-
plate has been scored in favor OF the
armor. At Spezzia. a German chilled
steel armor-plate, five feet nine inches
in thickness, weighing 100 tons, was
fixed against the face Of the cliff, and
battered with chilled shot from the 100
ton gun. A thunderbolt weighing
almost exactly a ton was hurled against
the face Of the plate by the explosion
of ~ hundred weight of powder, with
out producing more than a slight in
dentation and some trining cracks.
Three shots failed to make any serious
impressions on the plate.
The Brothers Siemens Of Germany
have been manufacturing glow lamps,
whose glasses are filed with hydrogen.
It had been remarked before that glow
lamps in which the inner glass wall
had been rendered brown could be
cleansed by filling them with hydrogen
and then exposing both the carbon fila
ment and glass to a high temperature.